Restoration
by Allicat9
Summary: Love is divine only and difficult always. They came together after the Battle to piece together what was left of their lives. The couples of Harry Potter deal with the aftermath of war. One shots in no particular order/various pairings. Companion to Aftermath and The Fallen. PLEASE REVIEW!
1. Lee and Demelza

They run away together three weeks after the last funeral.

Lee brushes her dark hair from her eyes and smiles, because really, he has nothing left. He has to fill the void inside him, and the pretty Quidditch player standing beside him will do just fine. He knows it's not fair, what he's doing. She still has people, somewhere, who need her. But Lee is selfish and today, he needs her more.

Demelza smiles back and grabs his hand. She knows what he's doing. She knows he carries emptiness that he is trying to fit her into. She even knows that it won't work. Not really. Not for long. But she thinks she's better than booze at least and she loves him and he needs her. Today, Demelza is unselfish and when the vicar asks, she says;

"I do."


	2. Henry and Yarnan

She cuts him off, after. She falls asleep on his chest in the Ravenclaw dorm rooms and when he awakens, she's gone.

He tries to go to her brother's house, hers now, and talk to her. He sends her flowers, letters, pleas. All go unanswered. She won't let him inside. She won't speak to him. She won't even look at him.

He cannot understand her pain. He knows that. She lost her entire family to the war. Her parents, her siblings, her sister in law, her niece and nephew. And she lost them in the most horrific of ways. He cannot imagine her suffering. But she won't let him try. She won't allow him to be her shoulder to cry on. She doesn't cry.

It's not just him; she doesn't speak to anyone anymore. No one from the D.A can reach her. When one of her girlfriends does manage to get in the house, she reports that Yarnan hexed her.

"She's going to drink herself to death in that house." The girl says, with the tone of one unused to being helpless.

Henry refuses to accept that its over at first. Months go by. May fades to June fades to July. And still, nothing from the girl that he has devoted the last four years of his life to.

He waits outside the old house on Diagon Ally. He's there three days before she comes out.

"Go away Henry." She slurs, her blue eyes blank, her hair dirty, "I don't love you anymore."

He leaves.

August fades to September fades to October, and Henry tries to get used to his life without her. Being an auror suits him, and he can now afford his own apartment. He tries not to think of her, but when he falls asleep alone at night, it's hard not to.

When he sees her again, it's an accident.

She sits in a café, pouring over a stack of papers, her brow creasing in the way it did when she was puzzled. She is still too thin, her hair closer to white then blonde, her left hand still mangled and crossed with scars. But she is still the most beautiful woman he's ever seen.

She looks up, as if sensing his eyes on her. She doesn't smile, but she doesn't turn away either. He goes to her table.

"Henry." She says, and it's like they've never parted.

He reached down and gathers her up into his arms. She lets him. Her clothing is different now. None of the flashy blouses and sky high heels. Now she is makeup free and dressed in a clean, brown skit suit, nothing like she used to wear.

"I'm not the same as I was, Henry." She whispers in his ear.

"That's ok." He whispers back, "I want to discover you all over again."

He does.


	3. Ron and Hermione

They don't speak about it for a few days.

Their hurried kiss in the Room of Requirement seems like centuries ago, another lifetime. One where Voldemort was alive and Fred wasn't dead and they had a _mission._

Now the mission is finished, the quest has ended. But instead of the neat happily ever after they envisioned they are left with bodies to bury and wounds that can't heal and broken castles.

For the first few days, Hermione is a shadow behind Mrs. Weasely. Always helping. Always there to make tea or talk or be a shoulder to cry on.

For the first few days, Ron is a rock in the center of his family. Always steady. Always there to plan funerals or talk or watch George.

They are always near one another, but they are hardly ever _with _one another. It drives them both mad, but neither is willing to deal with their situation when it seems trivial in the light of everything else that has happened.

As usual, they have to fight to even start communicating. Hermione starts it, or maybe Ron does, over something stupid and trivial. They both fly into rages (because no one can fight like they can) and say terrible, horrible things to one another (because they each want the other to be hurt as badly as they are). In the end it doesn't matter because they are both crying and kissing and yelling and kissing some more. And maybe, just maybe their happily ever after isn't so impossible after all.


	4. Harry and Ginny

It doesn't affect them like the others. When the dust settles and the funerals finished, Harry and Ginny fall back into their routine like they were never apart. Like nothing ever happened.

They were always easy together, they always fit. Ginny was the one aspect of Harry's life that wasn't complicated and Harry was Ginny's adventure.

Together, uncomplicated and comfortable, balanced by each other once more.

The first thing Harry smells now when he wakes is the flowery scent of Ginny's shampoo. The first thing he sees is the warm red of her hair, encompassing them both. As he snuggles against her in the wee morning hours, trying to get comfortable once more, he thinks he might like uncomplicated and comfortable more than anything in the world.


	5. George and Angelina

There are some holes that can't be filled.

George's ear is one example. Fred's place is another.

They discover this after a few months of wild, desperate sex that ends in tears more often than not.

They fight more than they thought they would, they feel more alone then they thought they would.

It was never like this when Fred was around, and both can't help but fear that Fred was the one holding their relationship together.

They love each other, they always have, but relationships can't always survive trauma, and they both have experienced plenty of that.

They try for years, on and off, back and forth, till they are both sure they will go mad with love and fear.

They decide to make a real go of it when Angelina finds out she's pregnant. They decide to stop trying to be something they're not and just be.

And when little Fred arrives just a few months later, George and Angelina both finally feel, as they stare at their son, that they might be good together after all.


	6. Charlie and Lavender

"We all have scars."

That's what he says when he catches her looking in the mirror for too long.

And it's true. Most people have scars. One or two.

Most people don't have scars that spread across their back and neck and face like a perverted spider web. Most people, she tells him as she watches herself in the mirror, don't have scars like her.

"That's what makes you beautiful. More beautiful. "

That's what he tells he when she cries and he kisses her neck, kisses her scars.

She couldn't understand why he found her attractive. He couldn't understand why she thought she was ugly. All she saw when she looked at herself was a half formed monster. All he could see was a warrior with flaming golden hair and the air of a queen.

She was wild. He liked wild. He was strong. She needed strong. He was passionate. She liked passionate. She was resilient. He needed resilient.

They go to Romania together. She leaves everything behind.

"I don't miss it."

That's what she says when she catches him looking at her for too long. Waiting for her to break she thinks.

"I know."

That's what he says when he knows she's thinking of her old life and needs him to lie to her. Because one day she will break.

Then Charlie takes Lavender in his arms like he always will and they fall into each other under the Romanian night sky.


	7. Molly and Arthur

In the end, after everything, they have each other.

Molly and Arthur are hardly apart the days leading up to the funeral. They cling to one another, silent except for Molly's sobs, watching as their children pick up the pieces of the shattered world around them.

They watch as Bill tries to take the lead, to make the decisions that need to be made. They watch Fleur fuss and clean and bake. They almost feel bad that their duties have been passed on to others. They would if they could feel anything but grief.

They watch Charlie rage seethe at the unfairness of it all. They watch Percy as he is swallowed by grief and guilt. Molly and Arthur try to ease their son's pain. But they fail and in the end, cede their duties to others who can help more than they can.

They watch Ron become the man they always knew he was. They watch as he becomes the emotional center of the family, stable when no one else can be. They watch their baby girl disappear, a woman appearing in her place. Suddenly, overnight, Ginny becomes hard lines and womanly curves and brown eyes that look a decade older than they are.

They watch George fade. They can do nothing.

They watch Fred being lowered into the ground. They can do nothing.

A month after the funeral, Molly and Arthur Weasely sit in their living room, holding hands.

In the end, after everything, they have each other. They remain unbroken.


	8. Zacharias and Katie

The war has ravaged her, and she cannot remember a life before the fear, before the pain.

The war has made him bitter, and he cannot look at her without hating himself.

She sits alone in a sterile, white, hospital room, twisting her pale green hospital gown between her boney, scarred hands, trying to remember.

He sits alone in a cramped, dark, flat, twisting his boney fingers through his brown, dirty, hair; trying to forget.

They tell her that she'll remember one day, that her brain has just blocked it all out so that she can heal.

They tell him that he will forget the details eventually and that he needs to let it go so he can heal.

She isn't allowed to look at her face in a mirror. They say that she has made so much progress and that they don't want her to set herself back now.

He can't face himself in a mirror. They say that he's being ridiculous. That he is setting himself back and that he just needs to face it head on.

She gets a visitor one day.

He goes to visit her one day.

He is tall and has a face like death.

She is so tiny and her face is so alive.

She is shy; she doesn't know him.

He is shy, he knows her too well.

She introduces herself because she remembers that it's the polite thing to do.

He says nothing because he does not trust himself to speak.

When she looks at him, she feels something, a glimmer of recognition and it excites her because nothing has looked familiar in such a long time.

When he looks at her, he feels something, something that has been there all along and he shutters because the feeling dark and cold and feels suspiciously like guilt.

She smiles.

He breaks.

She holds him while he cries, even though she doesn't understand his pain.

He lets her hold him; because he can pretend like she knows him and that nothing has changed.

She feels that she loved him, once.

He knows he loves her, still.

She watches him leave and wonders if he will come back.

He leaves, but he knows he will be back.

Katie Bell sits in a hospital room for the next three years

Zacharias Smith spends three years sitting at Katie's side.

She never regains her memory, but it doesn't matter.

He wishes sometimes that she would remember before, but in the end, it doesn't matter.

She learns how to do the simple things again, and finds enjoyment in everything.

He learns to just be with Katie and tries to adopt her love of life.

Katie marries him and she knows she doesn't need to remember life before the Battle.

Zacharias marries her and he knows his life is perfect in a way he never expected.

They are happy.

Because she loves him.

And he loves her.


	9. Cormac and Romilda

The War did not touch Cormac McLaggen and therefore, after the Battle finally comes to a close, he is unchanged.

For him, the Battle brings up nothing but memories of glory. His close friends were graduated, his parents far away, he was an only child. He was not near the heavy fighting, he experienced no close calls. For whatever reason, Cormac McLaggen is unaffected by the slaughter he witnessed.

Romilda Vane is similarly unaffected. The War might as well not have happened as far as she was concerned. She didn't understand why everyone was so morose after the Battle, why her friends would cry at the slightest reference to the thrill of the fight. After all, they were all heroes! Wasn't that something to celebrate?

They find one another, two bright spots of arrogance and untarnished pride against a backdrop of pain and regret. They marry soon after a year and a day after the Battle. Their wedding is lavish and expensive and not in good taste, but no one expected any better from them.

They live, blissful in their ignorance, happy in their shallow victories. They throw grand parties and flaunt their hero status. They remain steadfast in their hollow, meaningless Gryffindor pride until the end.


	10. Terry and Susan

Her eyes opened to an empty, barren wasteland. A place empty of warmth, of faith, of any shred of happiness.

Susan Bones is dead, not yet in body, but certainly in spirit. The bubbly blonde with a sweet smile and sunny disposition is gone and has been replaced with a skeletal figure with a hard expression and hollow eyes.

There is no relief from her nightmares-they come every night without fail. Sometimes she stays awake all night just to avoid the terrors that await her every time she closes her eyes.

She hates the world-she rages against it in the cold morning light when no one but a dead God can hear her. She hates that she knows what torture feels like. She hates that her aunt is dead. She hates that she has killed people. She is afraid that that makes her a monster too.

Terry is cold like her. He hates the world just as much as she does. He rages against it all the time, constantly, like the waves against the shore. He resents his own survival, and Susan knows what that feels like.

They decide, one day, to hate the world together. The nightmares never stop. The wounds never heal. But they find that the burden lessens when they're together.


	11. Theodore and Pansy

Theodore Nott inherits his father's estate in full, and he thanks the universe for small mercies.

Theodore Nott Sr. was killed during the Battle of Hogwarts. Theodore buries the man who was everything he never wanted to be next to the woman they both loved. He then returns to his childhood home, his empty mansion, and sits.

Theodore did not want to be a Death Eater. He took after his mother, not his father. He was no killer. He could never think of a reason why he needed to kill others to show them that he was better. It had always seemed counter-intuitive to him.

That's why he never helped capture anyone during that last, dark year at Hogwarts. That's why he was always ill when it came time to torture those prisoners (_children_). Alecto Carrow was under the impression that tall, dark Theodore Nott had a weak constitution. He had endured ridicule, but no malice. His conscience was clear.

He did not stay for the final battle. He left, along with most of his house. He went to a bar in London and waited. A part of him felt guilty. His father most likely expected him to join the fight. But Theodore had seen things that he could not un-see, and he felt no loyalty to his father's master.

After the war, he acquires a job at the Daily Prophet. People leave him alone, and he suspects that his actions (or lack there-of) during that last, nightmarish year, have served him well. People believe that he acted nobly, to some extent, and they treat him better then they treat any of his fellows.

It is seven years before he decides to take a wife. The mansion is lonely, and the Nott name must continue after all. Pansy Parkinson throws herself at him. Draco Malfoy had recently married, and he suspects that that event has something to do with Pansy's sudden eagerness. It is no matter. The marriage is mutually advantageous for both of them. She can secure herself to wealth and a good pureblood name, he no longer has to sit in silence.

They pass the years together, Theodore and Pansy. Pansy is most unbearable, but her presence is preferable to her absence. She distracts him from the memories that roam the halls of his childhood home with her petty vanities. He knows of her affairs, but he lets her be. She seems content enough.

It is not until she gives him his children that he feels anything. Annabella comes first, then Theodore, then Ester. Each child brightens the darkness of the mansion with their own brand of light. Theodore may feel nothing for the woman by his side, his parents may be dead and his friends gone, but his children settle him. Again there is light.


	12. Lucius and Narcissa

It isn't long before they come for Lucius. Narcissa ignores the chiming bell for as long as she can before slipping out of bed, donning a dressing gown and descending the stairs. Her hands shake as she undoes the latch by hand. Somehow, even though they knew it was inevitable, this small act still feels like betrayal.

The Auror at the door has a grim expression on his face. The two hit-wizards next to him look eager. It's 9:45 in the morning and Narcissa opens the door for three men who want to tear her family apart.

"Narcissa Malfoy?" he asks.

She nods and he hands her a piece of paper.

"This is a warrant for your husband's arrest." Her hand shakes and it makes the paper flutter.

"And this is a warrant for the arrest of your son." He holds out another paper, identical to the first.

Narcissa flinches. They knew it was a possibility, but she'd hoped…

She doesn't take the paper from him.

"Are your husband and son in the home, ma'am?" the Auror askes, and Narcissa imagines that she sees some softness in his expression.

"Yes." she whispers, "They're asleep. I'll take you to them."

She leads them into the house and up the stairs. Lucius is already standing outside of their bedroom, dressed, wand in hand. He gives it to the Auror without hesitation. He doesn't look cowed, not quite yet. He holds his head high as the two hit wizards bind him and seize each of his arms. But he won't look her in the eye.

She stares after him for a long time, long after they've disappeared down the staircase, until the Auror clears his throat.

And, feeling more and more like a stranger in her own house, her own body, she leads him to her son's room.

He lets her wake him, and Narcissa isn't sure whether that's a kindness or a cruelty. But she sits on the edge of her son's bed like she's done a thousand times before, and runs her fingers through his hair.

His eyes flutter open almost instantly, taking in her face, and then the Auror's. Like his father, he gets out of bed immediately and hands the Auror his wand without a fuss. But, as the man leads him from the room in shackles, Narcissa catches a moment of pure, infant, terror on her face. And it breaks her heart.

By 10:30 in the morning, Narcissa Malfoy is alone in her mansion, crying for a son, still a child in so many ways, and the man who destroyed everything, who she still loves beyond reason.


End file.
